Saturday 28th February 2010 is forever etched in the memory of Arsenal’s fans as it is the day when Aaron Ramsey suffered his horror injury.
The leg break overshadowed the season and highly impacted the team who were emotionally distraught after seeing their teammate so badly hurt.
Below is an analysis of how bad the leg break was and how the player managed an almost impossible recovery to bounce back.
Is Aaron Ramsey an Arsenal legend?
Aaron Ramsey can be considered a club legend and is still widely adored by Arsenal fans after his 11-year stint in North London.
He managed 58 goals and 51 assists across 338 appearances for the club, whilst also helping the club break their trophyless curse to lift the FA Cup three times.
In fact, Ramsey was a leader on and off the pitch for the club, winning the Player of the Season award twice due to his heroics and helping raise the club from a drought that had spanned over ten years.
When he left the club to join Juventus in 2019 many Arsenal fans were heartbroken, but the player’s career was almost cut short due to the events that unfolded in Stoke-on-Trent in 2010.
What happened when Aaron Ramsey suffered a leg break against Stoke City?
Aaron Ramsey was aged just 19 when he suffered an almost career-ending injury.
Ryan Shawcross made a crunching tackle in a tough, robust match between Arsenal and Stoke.
The Stoke captain was shown a red card immediately after and showed instant remorse leaving the pitch in tears.
Ramsey left the pitch on a stretcher with his teammates visibly shaken by the incident.
At the hospital, it was discovered that Ramsey had suffered a double leg fracture that saw him break his tibia and fibula in his right leg.
The player had to undergo an operation to be able to fix the double leg break. For the procedure, doctors had to move the player’s knee cap to the side, put a metal rod through the middle of the bone and attach it with screws.
After initially thinking he might never play again the doctors had positive news for the youngster. Ramsey was reassured by medical staff that he would be able to return to fitness.
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How did Aaron Ramsey recover from his horrific injury to shine for Arsenal?
The operation was just the start of a nine-month journey to get back onto the football pitch. Ramsey missed 248 days and 45 games for club and country in his time off.
The real process of getting back to fitness began with plenty of work in the gym and hard training routines.
He needed two loan spells to be able to build up his fitness and sharpness. The midfielder had a spell at Nottingham Forest followed up by a return to his old boyhood club Cardiff, which allowed him to regain skills that had become deconditioned due to his lengthy time out.
The momentous return to the pitch happened in a match against Sunderland in March 2011. It was an emotional moment after an arduous journey.
But the “recovery” was not complete. A huge aspect overlooked on the road to full fitness is the mental health aspect.
Arsene Wenger spoke about the kinesiophobia (fear of reinjury) that Ramsey suffered after the injury stating that it took 3 years for the player to get over the “psychological damage”.
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